Pear Galette

5 from 6 votes

This incredibly delicious Fall Pear Galette is the perfect dessert to welcome the colder weather. Easier to make than pie, it's a super rich and buttery rustic crust that is layered with perfectly spiced tender poached pears that melt in your mouth and some crunchy roasted walnuts to finish with!

Prep Time16

Cook Time30

Waiting Time2

Total Time2 46

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 1027kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Pie dough

190 g All purposer or pastry flour
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking powder
10 g Granulated sugar
115 g Unsalted butter very cold
15 g Heavy Cream
30 g Cream cheese

Poached pear filling

3 Pears cut into half vertically
1 l Water optionally replace half of the water with red or white wine
150 g Granulated sugar
1 large Cinnamon stick
1 Orange peel
Cloves

Other

2 tablespoon Almond flour under the filling
handful of Walnut optional filling beside the poached pear
1 Egg with a drop of milk to egg wash

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Start with making the pie dough

Sift together dry ingredients; flour, sugar, baking powder, salt
Add very cold butter chunks and rub the mixture between your fingers until it becomes a sand like consistency
Add cream and cream cheese and mix with your hands just until the dough comes together
Knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute (do not over-knead and do not use a mixer) just until the dough becomes smooth
Form a disk out of the dough, wrap it with kitchen foil and refrigerate for 2 hours

Continue with Poaching the Pears

Bring all ingredients to boil (except pears) in a large enough saucepan
Peel the pears and cut them into half vertically
Cook the pears for 10-20 minutes (depending on the size of the pears) on medium heat. Do not overcook the fruits, it is better to slighly udercook them
Place pears onto paper towels to soak the unnecessary liquid in. Make sure the pears are "dry" before placing them onto the pie dough.

Assembling

Once the dough is chilled, take it out of the fridge and let it rest for a few minutes on the kitchen counter to slightly warm up
Roll the dough into a circle in between two silicone baking mats. Alternatively, roll the dough on parchment paper (the one you will bake on later)
Dust the dough with almond flour to avoid soggy bottom on your pie
Cut each pear half into thin slices and carefully move them on top of the dough with an offset spatula making sure that they stick together
Place a handful of walnuts around the pears (optional)
Gently and tightly fold the pie dough edges over the filling and apply a light egg wash
Pop the unbaked galettes into the freezer for 10-15 minutes while pre-heating the oven to 200 C / 392 F (no fan)
Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust turns even golden in color and the bottom of the pie is also well baked
Store at room temperature or refrigerated for 2-3 days

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
Use high-quality 82% fat content European style very cold unsalted butter
Use almond flour underneath the fruit filling to avoid a soggy bottom

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details and science behind baking
While assembling and kneading the dough, work as quickly as possible without 1. overworking the dough 2. making the dough too warm. Kneading should not take more than a minute or two
The temperature while working with this dough is super important. Too warm? The pastry dough will tear. Too cold? The pastry dough will break. Aim for the in-between, a cold enough dough that is comfortable to work with. Use your fridge or freezer to chill the dough if it gets too warm
Once the pears are poached make sure to soak them with a kitchen towel until they feel dry
I strongly advise using a Digital oven thermometer to be able to measure your exact oven temperature

Nutrition